Pokemon Go Teases Giovanni Announcement

Pokemon Go is teasing a big Team Rocket announcement for tomorrow. Earlier this week, Team Rocket invaded Pokemon Go, taking over PokeStops and challenging players to battles with their Shadow Pokemon. As players strive to drive Team Rocket back, it seems that the game has even bigger plans in store. Yesterday evening, Pokemon Go posted a shadow-y teaser on Twitter with Giovanni’s silhouette and the date 7/28. In addition, Pokemon Go also posted a live video countdown on their YouTube channel, showing Team Rocket’s logo and occasional clips of Team Rocket grunts laughing and making faces.

Whatever is coming to Pokemon Go, it seems much bigger than a normal event. Pokemon Go is pushing the Team Rocket invasion hard, with viral advertising such as the defacing of some Pokemon Go ads in New York City, hot air balloons appearing over Pokemon Go Fest, and even a spontaneous Team Rocket takeover of every Poke Stop in New York City. Honestly, Pokemon Go hasn’t pushed anything of their new features this hard, not even raids, PvP battles, or the release of Meltan, a Pokemon that can only be caught in Pokemon Go.

Team Rocket’s invasion of Pokemon Go combines several elements of past games. In addition to the potential appearance of Giovanni, the first true villain of the Pokemon franchise, and his iconic gang of bad guys, the invasion also features Shadow Pokemon and Purified Pokemon that were first seen in Pokemon Coliseum. The invasion also borrows elements from Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, in which Team Rocket utilized new technology to breach other dimensions.

We’ll have more news about Team Rocket’s dastardly plans tomorrow, so stay tuned trainers! In the meantime, players can catch various Pokemon associated with Team Rocket as part of an in-game event.